Steve Ford believes the produce and meats that he offers his customers at Butcher's Best Market are both those things. His newly-opened business is in Highland Plaza at 125 South Main St. in Newtown.

"I carry products that are local, fresh and real," said Ford, who not only works in Newtown, but lives there, as well.

"Butcher's Best is stocked with products that are produced or grown without hormones, antibiotics and without genetic modification.

"I don't call what I carry `organic,'" he added, "but when I explain what I carry to people who are looking for that kind of thing, they understand that I carry what they want."

Until recently, Ford, who considers himself among the last of the "hoof-to-sausage guys" because he can skin a steer or pig, butcher it and, ultimately, make sausages from his effort, had a smaller meat market business up the street, within the Newtown Deli. But, he added, "the plan was always to own a business like this."

Opened on Jan. 21 and manned by a staff of seven butchers and cooks, his shop offers meats that are butchered onsite or cut to order, plus fresh seafood, milk, eggs, butter, breads, pastas and vegetables. Take-out foods, such as quiches, soups and macaroni and cheese are available every day.

"We try to get everything we use from local sources," Ford said. "Our milk and many of the cheeses we stock are from Arethusa Farm in Litchfield and our eggs are from Shortt's Farm in Sandy Hook."

Interestingly, Ford's business vision encompasses more than food and its local sourcing. It includes his idea of what an old country store used to be -- from wood floors to the not quite pot-bellied stove, around which folks are invited to sit, chat and drink some coffee.

Opening day, Newtowner Susan Turner was standing near that stove. When asked what she thought of Butcher's Best, she didn't take long to answer.

"Everything is so much better than what you get in a supermarket. They cut what you want," said Newtowner Susan Turner. "Everything is just delicious."